Finding righteous currents in turbulent times

Archive for the tag “Tea Party”

When news broke of the IRS targeting conservative and Tea Party groups, Obama Administration officials dismissed the transgression as an isolated incident involving a few misguided, rogue employees in the agency’s Cincinnati offices. Next we learned that the scandal extended to IRS headquarters in Washington, D.C. Now, we’re told that an Obama crony at the highest levels of the IRS bureaucracy orchestrated the hit campaign. Wonder where this trail of stench will lead next?

Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, said she was “sadly not surprised” with the head of the FBI not knowing about IRS targeting investigation. She stressed the importance of the Tea Party’s Audit the IRS Rally, scheduled for this Wednesday, June 19, in Washington, DC.

Yaron Brook, president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, calls for the abolition of the IRS, saying the agency’s targeting of Tea Party groups because of their political views demonstrates that the IRS has become too powerful and corrupt to remain intact. Failure to reign in this rogue agency will lead to an erosion of our civil liberties and freedom of speech.

In the same vein, US Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, delivers an epic takedown of the IRS for its exorbitant spending and lavish employee conferences, all undertaken as the rest of the country was facing furloughs and economic hardships.

Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio is on board with simplifying the tax code so the IRS can be downsized. “Our tax code is way too complicated,” the Florida Republican says.

“The beauty of our country is that we can disagree,” says Jenny Beth Martin, who is the co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. “And you can’t use the IRS to silent citizens.”

Martin was one of about 40 protestors who gathered today outside the Internal Revenue Service’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. to protest the agency for discriminating against tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status. Protestors came with signs bearing slogans such as “Don’t Target Me Bro” and “Suspend IRS Audits.” Similar rallies were held outside IRS offices across the country. Kennedy of Reason.TV reports.

Badgered by the IRS and a politically vindictive Administration, marginalized by spineless media sycophants beholden to the Washington elites, the Tea Party is now fighting back, gaining new wind as more Americans realize how corrupt, venal and out of control the federal behemoth has become. Fox News pundit Greg Gutfeld says Obamacare and its pending bureaucratic mandates will fuel this resurgence as the Tea Party strikes a blow for transparency and accountability in government.

So the IRS has admitted to sitting on applications for tax-exempt status by Tea Party groups for political reasons. According to the government’s own investigation, applications containing terms such as Tea Party and Patriot were singled out for delays and holds even as groups with liberal-sounding names like “Bus for Progress” and “Progress Florida” sailed through the process.

President Obama said “the report’s findings are intolerable and inexcusable” and even fired the acting head of the Internal Revenue Service. Regardless of how this particular scandal shakes out, there’s still going to be at least three good reasons to be scared as hell of the IRS. H/T Reason.TV

An IRS watchdog says he informed Obama administration officials last June that a probe was underway over the agency’s targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups. Damian Paletta reports for the Wall Street Journal.

The IRS not only singled out grassroots Tea Party organizations, but also a wide swatch of conservative groups, including some with ties to Israel and others advocating the sanctity of the US Constitution. Perhaps instead of scrutinizing these groups, IRS agents should go back and re-read the Bill of Rights and Constitution. The specter of a federal agency running roughshod over American principles and laws is simply intolerable. Heads should roll at this all-powerful, but wantonly reckless agency. CNN reports

The IRS admitted yesterday that the agency singled out approximately 75 conservative and Tea Party groups for special scrutiny and auditing in advance of the 2012 election. While the agency apologized for overstepping its legal bounds, there was no word forthcoming on who ordered the witch-hunt and whether those responsible will be fired or reprimanded.

Hugo Chavez just died, and many of us said “good riddance” to a tyrant who defrauded his own people, intimidated his political opposition and left his economy and country in disarray. Senator Rand Paul seemed to be reminding us: “Why would we want a tyrant in America, too?” Wayne Allyn Root from Personal Liberty Digest weighs in.